Ten Minutes of Decluttering - The Desk

How much of a difference can ten minutes of decluttering really make? It depends on how you look at it.

If you’re looking at a whole house that is filled with clutter, ten minutes of decluttering isn’t going to make a huge impact.

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But, if you look at small spaces, ten minutes can make a huge difference.

For example, here’s a picture of my desk:

It’s a clutter hotspot, and it’s messy all the time. Because it’s in our kitchen, I have to declutter it a lot before we have friends over. Fortunately, it only takes about ten minutes of concentrated decluttering to whip it back into shape.

Here’s my desk after ten minutes of decluttering:

I always start by de-trashing the desk first. Then, I try to put things in their place the best I can. It doesn’t look perfect, but it does look presentable. I was really happy to get rid of the big pile of stuff on the right-hand side of the desk.

Short decluttering sessions are great for parents, because they’re totally do-able.

Almost anyone can find ten minutes to declutter. If not, even five minutes will help.
The expectations for a ten-minute declutter are pretty low. You’re not aiming for perfection, just progress.
When you finish decluttering, you feel a sense of accomplishment.
They are great for clutter hotspots that have to be tidied up all the time.
It’s hard to make a bigger mess in ten minutes. When I work on a big organizing project, I often make a big disaster before anything gets organized. If you know you only have ten minutes to get things in order, you tend not to make things worse before they’ll get better.